The Girl in the Photo
by Still Waters
Summary: An old photo brings back painful memories.


Another idea polished up from a dusty old notebook. Still working on more. I'd like to know what you think. 

High Mountain Rangers aren't mine, of course, and all that other disclaimer stuff that usually goes at the beginning of a fanfic.

The Girl in the Photo

By Still Waters

The reception had gone well. Every spring the High Mountain Rangers held an open house. Townspeople and tourists alike were invited to visit the Ranger headquarters and look around at the facilities and equipment of the law enforcement/search and rescue team. It was purely public relations, but it always seemed a popular event.

Jesse Hawkes, the team's founder and original leader, had been coaxed down from his mountain hideaway to participate. As much as he disliked parties and such, he knew that this event was important to the team and the town. It was also important that he show his support of the current team and it's leader, his son, Matthew Hawkes. 

Relieved that it was over for another year, Jesse sat on the floor in front of the fireplace. Next to him, his estranged wife, Jackie, snuggled close. With all the other duties that the Rangers had, someone had to step in to organize the open house. For some reason, it fell to her year after year. Not that she really minded. She knew it was important. 

Around the room, the team members kicked back and relaxed. Izzy, the team's newest member, had started a half hearted clean up effort, lazily picking up empty cups and chucking them in the general direction of the trash can.

On the sofa, Robin idly flipped through a scrapbook of newspaper articles and photos of the Rangers' past. Matt sat next to her, adding details and answering her questions. On another sofa across from them, Cody Hawkes sat, dreaming of the day that he would take his place on the team that his father had created. He looked across the room at his parents, relaxing contentedly in front of the fire, and wondered how two such very different people had managed to make such a strange relationship work. 

Robin laughed as she turned a page in the album.

"Charles Matthew Hawkes," she read. "First baby born at Ranger Headquarters. Now that sounds like an interesting story."

Matt smiled, and across the room Jesse and Jackie both laughed. "I should have realized then that he was destined to be a Ranger, shouldn't I?" Jackie commented.

She adjusted her position against her husband. "Back in those days, the team was somewhat smaller, so sometimes some of the wives would help out from time to time with manning the radio," she told them.

"Hey, the job's available if you're interested," Izzy interjected quickly.

"No, thank you. I've done my time," she responded. "Anyway, that particular afternoon, they had gotten a call about some hikers that had gotten stranded by the spring runoffs. Since they needed all able bodies, the nine months pregnant woman stayed here to listen to the radios and make sure everyone knew where everyone else was. I had been having labor pains, but they were still far enough apart that my doctor said it would be several hours before he arrived. Well, by the time they had rescued the hikers, my water had broken and the pains had suddenly gone from ten minutes apart to one right after another."

"I got here to find an ambulance pulling up at the door and her huffing and puffing," Jesse added with a grin. "The paramedics decided it was too late to try to get her to the hospital, so they delivered him right there in the middle of the floor."

"With the whole Ranger team and a group of hikers watching," Jackie told them. "I have never been so embarrassed in my whole life."

"I'll bet you learned your lesson," Robin told her. "With Cody, you were probably at the hospital as soon as the contractions started."

A shadow crossed Jackie's face, so quickly that Robin thought it might have been her imagination. 

"Yeah. Something like that."

Robin kept turning pages. "Ah ha! This should be interesting. 'High Mountain Rangers July 4th family picnic.'" she read. "I can't wait to see our fearless leader as a little boy," she teased Matt.

"Hey," he told her, "I was an adorable little boy."

She started reading captions. "Jesse and Charlie…" She cocked a curious eyebrow.

"Charles Matthew. I outgrew 'Charlie' about the time Cody was born," he explained.

"Jesse and Charlie on horseback…Charlie trying on his dad's hat…Here we go…the Hawkes family photo…Jesse, Jackie, Charlie, and Christy…" She stopped, aware of the sudden mood shift in the man sitting next to her. 

Matt had tensed, his relaxed posture going ramrod straight. He turned his head slightly to look down the room at his parents. On the other sofa, Cody had also tensed up, throwing a quick glance at his brother before also shifting his attention to the couple by the fireplace. The relaxed contentment had disappeared from there as well. Jesse and Jackie had both gone completely still.

The silence in the room stretched as none of the Ranger team members could bring themselves to ask the question on their minds.

Finally, Jackie spoke.

"Christa," she whispered.

She cleared her throat and tried again. "It's Christa, actually. Christa Michelle Hawkes." After a pause, she continued. "Christa was…is…Matt's younger sister."

The silence continued as she rose and walked across the room to where Matt and Robin sat. She knelt in front of them and carefully turned the photo album so that she could see the photo they had been looking at. Gently, she ran her hand across the picture, a sad smile on her face. 

"That's always been one of my favorites," she murmured softly.

"I can see why," Robin replied. The photo reflected the sheer joy of the family. Jesse and Jackie had their arms around each other. Jesse was smiling contentedly and Jackie looked up at him, laughter lighting her face. Between them, two giggling tow-headed children were lovingly sheltered. Matt was about 6 years old and trying very hard not to look like he was enjoying being a part of a Hawkes family sandwich. The grin on his face, though, spoke volumes. Standing in front of him was a little girl about 4 years old. Here eyes were the same sparkling green as her brother's and golden curls framed her face. She obviously had no qualms about showing her delight in the family hug as her head was thrown back in a hearty laugh. 

After a few minutes, Jackie handed the album back and stood.

"I'm sorry. I really need some air," she told them in a strangled voice as she turned and walked quickly towards the door. Without another word, she opened the door and stepped out onto the back porch of the station. Moments later, Jesse silently followed.

The Rangers left in the room looked from one to another, no one quite sure shat to say. Finally, Robin reached over and lay her hand on Matt's arm.

"I'm so sorry, Matt. I had no idea…"

Her apologetic tone penetrated the fog in Matt's head. He patted her hand and turned his head to give her a weak smile. 

"It's okay, Robin. You couldn't have known. It's been so long, very few people do."

"It's not like it's a deep, dark secret or anything," Cody hastened to assure everyone. "It's just that it's been so long and it's still so hard for them to talk about." When he realized that everyone had turned to look at him, he shrugged. "I never even knew her."

Matt could feel the concern from his friends and knew that they were all curious, despite their obvious reluctance to probe a subject that was still so painful.

"It was just before Cody was born, actually. Mom was about 7 or 8 months pregnant and had been having some problems. Christa and I had been bugging her about wanting to go outside to play. Finally, she said that we could, as long as we stayed where she could see us out the front window. We swore up and down that we would and I promised Mom that I would keep a close eye on Christa. After all, I was all of 7 years old and she was only 5."

He rose and walked to a window as he gathered his thoughts. 

"Well, we were running around like a couple of wild hooligans, of course…screaming and yelling…"

"Doing what kids do," Robin interjected.

"Yeah. Being kids. Anyway…this car drove up. I think it had driven by a couple of times before, but I hadn't really paid any attention. It wasn't a really neat car or anything, just an old, blue four door car. This time, though, it stopped and a woman got out. She looked around and motioned for us to come to her."

He looked around at the group. "Now, even back then, we knew better than to talk to strangers and neither one of us moved. Mom opened the window and hollered for us to come back to the house. The woman told us that she had found a hurt puppy wandering out in the street and wanted to know if we might know who it belonged to. Christa couldn't bear the thought of someone's puppy being hurt, so she ran over to the car to take a look. About that time, Mom opened the door and started towards us. The woman grabbed Christa, threw her in the car, and took off. That was the last we ever saw her."

"That must have been really rough on your parents," someone commented.

"Yeah. Mom blamed herself because she let us outside without being out there to supervise. Dad blamed himself because he was up on the mountain trying to get a line on some illegal trappers. It was several hours before anyone was able to reach him. By the time he got back here, Mom had gotten so worked up that her doctor had put her in the hospital. Even though every law enforcement officer in the area was on the case, he always felt that if he had been closer, had been able to get involved in the search earlier, that he would have found her."

"And they never found any trace of her?" Hart asked.

"Nothing. Seventeen years of nothing," Matt confirmed, gazing out the window to where his parents stood.

Jackie leaned on the railing to the horse corral. Her eyes followed the horses, but her mind was on a little blonde haired girl. Standing next to her, Jesse also pretended to watch the animals. Finally, she spoke.

"She's still out there somewhere, Jess."

When he didn't respond, she turned to face him.

"You think I'm crazy, don't you? To think that she's still alive after all this time," she challenged him.

He finally turned to face her. "No, babe, I don't think you're crazy. Because if you are, then I am, too," he answered. 

"You think she's alive, too?" she asked with trembling voice.

"I must. I find myself examining every young woman I meet that I think might be around the right age," he confessed.

"Wondering if her hair is really blonde, wondering if she has a strawberry birthmark on the back of her left shoulder," Jackie interrupted.

"And if she has that scar on her arm where she fell through the glass door when she was two," Jesse finished.

"Me, too," Jackie told him with a soft smile.

He reached out and pulled her into an embrace. "We've just got to hold on to that hope, sweetheart."

"And each other."

"And each other," he agreed.

Far away, in another city, FBI agent Douglas Hodges sat at his desk. Hodges was in his mid forties, somewhat tall and thin, though not extremely so. He thought of himself as basically nondescript. He was very detail oriented and loved the minutia of combing through evidence hunting down the tiny facts that others might have missed. This was a character trait that made him very good at one of the Bureau's most difficult, and often heart-breaking jobs. He was a missing person's specialist and had one of the better clearance rates in his department. Few things annoyed him as much as the cold cases that he had inherited from those who had gone before him. He always felt that if he had been able to visit the scene, interview witnesses, and collect evidence at the time of the occurrence, he could probably have solved the case. Some of the cases in his files now were 20 years old or more. Witnesses had died or disappeared, recollections had faded. 

These cases, though, were the ones that kept him grounded. Whenever he was able to clear up a current case, he would go back and pull an old one, partly to keep his head from swelling too much, and partly in the hopes that his success would carry over and he would find the detail that would finally provide answers that had eluded someone for far too long.

He had his nose buried deeply in one such file when a knock on his door abruptly drew him back. He looked up in annoyance at the young woman standing there. His mind performed a quick assessment. Shoulder length blonde hair…approximately 5'5", 120 pounds…nice figure…green eyes…dressed in conservative, yet high quality clothing…probably late teens to early twenties.

"Yes?" he asked.

She cleared her throat and looked down at the piece of paper in her hand.

"Agent Douglas Hodges?" she asked in a pleasant alto.

He nodded. "What can I do for you, Miss?"

"Gardner," she supplied. "Maybe."

The 'maybe' caught his attention and he raised an eyebrow.

"You see, I think I might be one of your cases," she told him. 

Hodges stared at her for a moment. This certainly sounded interesting. He smiled as he rose from his desk and escorted her into the room.

"Please, Miss Gardner, tell me all about it."

To be continued (eventually)…obviously…supposing anyone is interested?


End file.
